I Will Always Want You
by Airyfairy13
Summary: Another look at how S07E20 might have ended after Lorelai had her karaoke moment. UPDATE: was originally a one-shot but have decided to continue to see how they deal with the aftermath.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

 **While rewatching** ** _Lorelai, Lorelai?_** **the other day I was having a think about what might have happened after Lorelai ran off stage. Pretty unashamed smut with a tinge of angst thrown in.**

 **This is the first fanfic I've ever posted so...be nice. Although all criticism and reviews welcomed. Definitely rated M**.

As the song finished she continued gazing at him, before giving a little shrug and a half-smile and rushing off stage. He felt warm and happy as he hadn't felt in months.

He turned to the bar. It was just a song, right? She'd already been singing it when he came in, it wasn't like she was singing it _for_ him. Was it? In his mind's eye he saw her again, her eyes locked on him. Those piercing eyes. He hesitated for a few more moments before making the snap decision to follow her. He took a fortifying gulp of beer before dashing to the back of the bar in her wake. Something which thankfully seemed to go unnoticed by Patty and Babette.

When he couldn't find her in the backstage area, he wondered briefly if she might be in the bathroom but then he spotted the fire exit which led out to the alleyway running along the back of the building. Opening the door he stepped out and heard her before he saw her. His heart tightened slightly as the sounds of her soft crying reached him.

'Lorelai?'

He heard her gasp of surprise. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he made out her form, leaning against the wall.

'Luke?' she called back softly, her voice thick with tears.

'Yeah.' he confirmed. 'It's me. Are you ok?'

She gave a shaky laugh, 'I'm fine. It's nothing. Go back inside.'

He ignored this and walked towards her. 'You don't sound fine.' He stopped in front of her and she looked up into his face. 'What-?' He started to ask.

But she shook her head, 'No, Luke, please. I-I don't want to talk about it. Not yet.'

He nodded. Not yet was encouraging. Not yet suggested there was something to talk about. He had been back and forth so many times with this woman, he didn't even know what he wanted, let alone what she was thinking.

'Thanks.' she said softly. 'For coming to check on me.'

'Of course.' he breathed.

They gazed at each other. It had been such a long time since they'd been alone like this and it was only now dawning on him just how close she was. He could practically feel her breath on his face. He felt his heartbeat quicken and his palms started to sweat.

Finally she reached out for him. She put her hand on his and squeezed it.

Their eyes met again and suddenly it was as though someone had lit a flame between them. Their lips crashed together and he pushed her roughly against the wall behind her. She moaned into his mouth and ground her hips, pushing their centres together.

He felt himself rear up to meet her and ground back. He tried to pull her top down to free her breasts but it wouldn't give so he tore it off her - their lips flying back to each other the second it was over her head. She pulled at the buttons of his shirt and slipped her hands under his t-shirt and over his chest. He groaned at her touch and moved his hands down to her jeans.

Undoing them, he started to push them down and knelt to pull them off her feet, taking her underwear and heels with them. He took her leg and draped it over his shoulder before leaning towards her and finding her clit with his tongue.

The cry she gave was so loud he wouldn't have been surprised to see the whole town come running out to see what the commotion was all about.

'Lorelai' he breathed against her before returning to work. She seemed to understand what he was trying to say as she pressed her lips together, desperately trying to keep the noise down as her orgasm rushed towards her.

'Luke' she moaned and his dick hardened almost painfully at the sound of her moaning his name. 'Luke I'm so close.'

Her hands went to his head and she brought her hips up to meet him. He felt her whole body tense and shake before her release swept over her and she shuddered violently against him.

He slowed his tongue, allowing her to ride it out before she pulled him back up to her feet when she became too sensitive to take anymore.

She pulled him to her, kissing him desperately, her fingers at his jeans. He let out a low growl and once again pinned her against the wall with his body. When she pushed his boxers and jeans down and wrapped her hand around his hard length it was her turn to shush him when he gave a harsh cry and thrust towards her.

'I need to be inside you.' he groaned, his breath ragged.

Lifting her, he guided himself to her entrance, allowing her to sink down onto him. Their lips pressed together, swallowing each other's moans. Roughly he pushed back into her - her moans and cries indicating she had no problem with the less-than-tender pace.

'Oh god.' he groaned as his head fell to her shoulder. 'I'm not going to last long. You're so sexy.'

'That's ok Luke. Come for me.' she breathed into his ear.

He nearly exploded at her voice but he wanted to take her there with him again. Changing the angle slightly, he managed to drag his hardness against her clit as he pulled out of her causing her eyes to roll back into her head. 'Yes' she breathed, 'Do that again- Luke.' she cried as he reversed the motion, applying the same pressure to her sweet spot.

He stroked in and out of her - feeling her body tense around him.

'Are you close?' he managed to ask through gritted teeth. His legs were shaking at the effort of holding back.

She nodded, apparently unable to speak. Her mouth was open in a silent moan, she went still as he continued to pump into her. He'd done this enough to know that she was right on the brink. God he'd missed that face.

'Yes. Yes. Luke- Keep going- Don't stop. Ughhhh' she came again with a long moan and this time he could feel her inner muscles contracting around him, trying to pull him even deeper inside her.

'Oh god Lorelai-' finally he allowed himself to come with a shout of pleasure. Thrusting deep inside her, before slowing to a stop.

They remained like that for a while. His forehead resting on her shoulder, her head resting back against the wall. Eyes closed, breathing heavy. As he felt himself soften and slip out of her he gently pulled away and lowered her feet to the floor.

The moment was broken. Suddenly they could hardly meet each other's eyes and neither seemed to have anything to say as they bent to pick up their discarded clothes and redressed. Luke marvelled at how connected he could feel to her one moment only to have it replaced with this crippling awkwardness the next.

When they were both dressed they stood opposite each other again. Luke opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter a word they both jumped as they heard Rory's voice calling from the other side of the fire door.

'Shoot. That's Rory, I have to go. Um, maybe you should stay out here for a moment? Just so it doesn't look like…' _we just shagged against the alleyway wall,_ he could practically hear her thinking.

'Yeah' he nodded. 'Lorelai-' he started, with absolutely no idea what he wanted to say only that this didn't feel right, her just walking away.

She turned back and nodded too, 'It's ok Luke. We'll talk.' And with that she disappeared back through the door.

Luke let out a deep breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and scrubbed his hands over his face. What on earth had just happened? For a few shining moments there it felt like he had her back - the love of his life back in his arms. And now? For months he'd thought he could never forgive her and suddenly he felt as though he'd be willing to put everything aside for another chance with her. He pushed the thought aside and refused to let himself entertain anything until he knew how she felt. God knows he'd spent too many years pining after her already, he couldn't jump back in until he knew she was ready to jump too. He toyed with the idea of going back into the bar and in the end decided he would just sneak back to the diner. He didn't think he could bear to face the gossip that was undoubtedly coming their way. Not yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

 **Firstly thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to review and thank you all for the requests for me to continue. To be honest, when I posted I was in two minds about it so you've managed to convince me!**

 **I actually found this chapter quite hard to write (which is probably why it's so long) because I wanted to touch on the scenes that happened in episodes 7.20 and 7.21 in order to move the story along but I didn't want to do a full in-depth scene on each one. It also goes back and forth between Luke and Lorelai's POV which I hope isn't too off-putting for anyone.**

 **Please let me know what you think :)**

Light streamed through the curtains as Lorelai rolled over, trying to peel her eyes apart. Lying still, she slowly tried to ascertain how bad her head felt through the fog of tequila. As she leant over to see what time it was, flashes of last night came unbidden to her mind - Luke pushing her up against the wall, his eyes on her as she sang, his mouth on hers. Embarrassment and uncertainty surged through her and she screwed her eyes shut against the memories.

'Coffee' she mumbled into her pillow, decisively pushing the memories away before dragging herself downstairs to find her annoyingly chipper daughter already up and making breakfast.

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Luke was moving around the diner in a daze, he'd hardly slept all night as he kept feeling jolted by the electricity of what had happened in the alleyway. He'd debated and argued and reasoned with himself, each time telling himself that it was stupid to even be thinking about this until he knew what she felt. They'd hardly exchanged ten words with each other and yet the rush of warmth he felt when he remembered how she had clung to him was only matched by the sinking of his stomach as he remembered how she could barely look at him afterwards. He felt like storming right over to her house but at the same time he wanted to lock himself in his apartment and never speak to anyone again.

As he had predicted, the town was abuzz about 'the song' and all he could do was deny, deny, deny. Deny it had meant anything, deny it was about him, deny that she had meant every word when really his hopes soared every time Miss Patty or Babette or even Liz told him the opposite.

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Stumping downstairs the next day, he couldn't help but smile when he saw her sitting at the counter talking to Patty and Babette. God she was beautiful. Then her words reached him, 'No, no, I just got swept up in the lyrics and the moment, it didn't mean anything.' He felt like she'd punched him in the chest. He felt so angry with himself for allowing himself to hope once again. Of course it didn't mean anything. She'd obviously been upset about something else, he'd offered her comfort and she'd taken it. God, what an idiot.

'What can I get for you.' he almost barked at her.

She turned to see him standing there, 'Oh hi. Coffee, please.'

'To go right?' He said it like a question but they both knew it wasn't. She was being dismissed. He didn't care if he was being rude. He didn't care if Babette and Miss Patty told the whole town. He just needed her gone.

He could hear her trying to cajole him out of it, asking his opinion on what she should have for breakfast but for once, _for once,_ he wasn't going to let her do this to him. Every time he thought he was out she managed to suck him back in. She was his biggest weakness, his achilles heel. Not this time damn it, this time he was staying strong.

As Lorelai left the diner to answer her phone she felt completely thrown. When Rory asked her how things were with Luke she did a good job of sounding convincing that she was ok that he had barely even looked at her but in truth she was crushed. She'd really thought that it had meant something to both of them but maybe it was just sex for him. It didn't fit with what she knew of 'her Luke' but then, he hadn't been 'her Luke' for almost a year. Maybe he'd changed.

Looking back through the window she watched as he moved behind the counter, pouring coffee and serving customers. It was such a familiar sight it made her heart ache for the old days. Sighing she began to walk on, she had so much else to think about, Logan proposing, Rory graduating, seeing Christopher again - she just had to trust she'd be too busy to think about him.

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As it happened, the rest of the day did give her plenty to think about. She barely had a moment to dwell on the 'Luke situation' until she was taking her clearing-her-head walk post horrendously awkward proposal. Her heart lurched as she saw him come out of the diner but he was at least looking her directly in the eyes as they exchanged inane pleasantries about the lateness of the hour.

'Logan proposed to Rory.' she told him, in answer to what she was doing out and about.

Luke looked astonished, 'No way? Wow, I guess you would need a walk for that. What she say?'

'She said she need time to mull it over.'

He nodded, 'Good answer.'

'I thought so.'

'So, she ask for your advice?'

'She did, yeah.'

'And?' he asked

'I told her it was her decision. My Mother's picking out china patterns.'

Luke nodded, he could imagine only too well. 'Oh I bet she's all over that. So you're leaning towards no?'

'Oh no. I'm not really leaning, I'm kind of upright.'

'Just, I could understand if you were leaning away from yes.'

'Why?'

'Well I mean, she's really young and it is the most important decision of your life, I mean, her life.' he corrected quickly.

She felt herself getting angry, 'Well they love each other, he's been great. Maybe they got it together young, some people do.'

'Right. And others need more time.'

'Sure, or they're never ready.' She was starting to feel really quite pissed off now. It was just so typical of him.

'Well I wouldn't say never, maybe they just want to be careful, they're a little slower, just to make sure it's right.'

 _Make sure it's right? What?_ 'Well you can't always be 100% sure it's right, sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.

'Yeah but you've got to know what you're leaping into.'

'After all this time, how could you not know?' She almost yelled in exasperation.

'How could who not know?'

Damn. Caught. 'Rory.'

'Right, Rory.'

She started towards home, her mind racing. How could someone so infuriating then be so thoughtful as to get her kid a graduation present, even making sure she got it on the actual day. Talk about mixed messages. She wished she could open his mind, take a look inside and see what the hell was going on in there. How had Lorelai Gilmore, Queen of Saying How She Felt, ended up entangled with someone so unreadable?

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Later that night, Luke was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV with absolutely no idea what he was watching. He couldn't get his mind to focus. He kept running through their heated exchange, searching for the double meanings he knew were there.

He was brought back to earth by the sound of frantic knocking on the door downstairs. Whoever it was sounded like they were trying to break the door down. He pushed himself off the sofa and ran downstairs, 'Geez, will you take it easy?' he yelled, wrenching the door open. He hardly had time to register who it was before she pushed past into the room behind him.

'What the hell did you mean earlier?'

'Lorelai, what-?'

'Earlier, when you said "You've got to know what you're jumping into." What did you mean?'

Still feeling a little stunned he stammered, 'Just you know, Rory and Logan-'

'Bullshit.' she shouted at him, 'You weren't talking about Rory and Logan, you were talking about me and you. How could you not know? How, Luke?'

'Lorelai, calm down.' he shouted back at her

'No, Luke!' she yelled in frustration, 'No. I will not calm down. What did you mean? Are you saying you didn't know about me? You were unsure about me? Is that why you didn't tell me about April? Why you never let me see her? Why didn't you trust me, Luke?' she was crying now, tears spilling onto her cheeks. She wiped them furiously away. 'I was so sure, Luke. I was so sure. I wanted to marry you and be with you and share my life with you. There were no doubts. None.' her voice broke, she buried her face in her hands.

He hated seeing her cry but he still felt so angry at himself for letting her get under his skin again. He regretted the words before they were out of his mouth but he still found himself yelling, 'If you were so sure, how could you have married him, Lorelai? How quickly did you move on? If you were so sure about us, why did you go there to him that night?'

'God, Luke, I've told you this. I was wrong. I was so wrong. But I was exhausted and miserable and I needed it to be over between us. I went to him because I knew it was the one thing I could do that you could never forgive. I knew you'd never forgive me.'

'Yeah, well you were right about that.' he roared at her, 'I'll never forgive you.'

'And what about me, Luke?', she yelled back, 'I will never forgive _you_ for how you treated me those last few months.'

'So what are you doing here? Why did you come?'

She shook her head, still crying. 'Because- Because-.'

He turned away from her.

'Luke?' her voice was lower now. She wasn't shouting anymore. 'Luke, did it mean anything? The other night? Did it mean anything to you?'

His shoulders sagged and he turned back to her. 'Of course it did.' he said in a weary voice.

She started moving towards him, slowly, uncertainly. 'Then why couldn't you even look at me today.'

'I heard what you said.' he murmured, 'To Patty and Babette - that the song didn't mean anything.'

She gave a half sob, half laugh, 'Do you really think I'd tell them the truth?'

'Then-?'

'Yes, Luke. I meant every word.'

She was so close to him now, looking up into his face. She was reaching up, stroking his cheek. And then he found himself wiping her tears away with his thumbs, pulling her towards him, and their lips met.

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on and on. So much for his resolution to never let her get under his skin again, he was completely addicted to her, he could never resist her.

She knocked his hat to the floor and ran her hands through his hair. He began to walk them backwards towards the stairs. Their lips not leaving each other's for more than seconds, they somehow managed to stumble up the stairs and he pushed her against the door to his apartment.

His hands roamed over her body, removing her jacket just as her fingers went to the buttons on his shirt. When he ran a hand up her body, pushing her top up with it and finding her breast she moaned into his mouth and pulled him even closer to her.

He wanted to lose himself in her, to lock them in his apartment and never have to deal with the outside world again but he couldn't switch off his brain. His mind was racing over the last couple of days, over everything she had just shouted at him. 'Lorelai, 'he whispered, breaking the kiss. 'We shouldn't do this.' he closed his eyes to avoid meeting her confused and hurt look.

'Ok.' she breathed back at him. He forced himself to meet her gaze and he thought he saw understanding there.

'It's not that I don't want to. Clearly.' he said with a gesture towards his pants. 'But we can't keep doing this. We're so messed up. This isn't going to solve anything.'

She nodded and stooped to pick up her jacket before moving to walk past him.

'Lorelai, say something.'

She turned back, fresh tears glistening in her eyes, 'You're right, it wouldn't solve anything. Goodbye Luke.'

He watched her go, wishing her 'goodbye' hadn't sounded so damn final.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Firstly, apologies for the incredibly short chapter and secondly, sorry to be delivering yet more angst but, as I hope you'll have noticed by now, I'm trying to fit this around canon so we all know they'll be back together soon. I'm just enjoying exploring the turmoil they must have gone through to be able to put everything behind them and leap back in.**

 **Please review if you have any suggestions or just to let me know if you're enjoying it! Follows are great but reviews are like a giant hug :)**

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Luke strode back and forth across his apartment. He felt like he'd dreamed her being there except that he could still feel where her hands had pulled him to her and her lips had touched his. Adrenaline and frustration were coursing through him and for the first time since he could remember he actually felt close to tears. Why couldn't they just have a normal conversation? They used to be able to read each other so well he could tell if she wanted eggs or pancakes just by the way she smiled at him as she came into the diner. He remembered the way she'd be able to tell if he'd had a crappy day just by the way he unlocked the front door.

But now it seemed like just when he thought he'd figured out what they both wanted, one of them did or said something which completely contradicted that. With a stab of shame he remembered the words he'd shouted at her _'If you were so sure about us how could you have married him?'_ They'd already talked about this in that damn hay bale maze, he knew she was sorry, he'd accepted her apology and then thrown it back in her face at the first opportunity.

Letting out a grunt of frustration he threw himself onto the sofa and reached for the phone.

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Lorelai let herself into her house, half relieved and half devastated that Rory had decided to go back to Yale. She needed her best friend but at the same time, she'd dragged her daughter into this mess too many times to let her see her like this yet again. As she shut the door and hung up her coat the phone started to ring and she froze. She knew it was him. Just as she'd always known it was him every time he called during those long seven weeks after their first kiss, somehow she just knew.

She noticed how much she was trembling as her hand stretched out to pick up the phone, 'Hello?'

'Lorelai'

She closed her eyes at his voice.

'Are you ok?'

She shook her head and sank onto the sofa, 'Yeah.' she said with a shrug. Of course she wasn't ok, why was he even asking that?

On the other end of the phone Luke closed his eyes too, why on earth had he asked that?

'I just-' he fell silent, 'Lorelai, I wanted to say I'm sorry.'

She didn't say anything, waiting to hear what this one was for.

'I shouldn't have said that about Christopher, I shouldn't have thrown that at you. We've already been over it, you apologised, I apologised, we put it in the past.'

She felt the tears rising in her throat again, 'Luke, don't you see? This is why this is never going to work. Too much has happened and we can't just 'put it in the past'. You said it yourself, you'll never forgive me. And why should you? What I did was unforgiveable.'

'You just took me by surprise, I wasn't expecting to see you. And then you were there and you were yelling and I was angry with myself. You know, we never had a big yelling fight after we broke up, maybe this was just what we needed.'

'No, Luke, that wasn't a 'clearing-the air-fight', that is what it would be like if we tried again. Anytime either of us did or said anything wrong we'd drag it all up again. I can't live like that Luke and you shouldn't have to either.'

There was silence for a long time, both of them sitting on the sofa, miserably dwelling on the apparent hopelessness of their situation.

Finally Lorelai spoke again. 'I should go. I've got Rory's graduation tomorrow, I need to get up early.'

'Ok.'

There was another pause, she didn't want to end the call. Somehow this felt more final to her than any of their break ups so far.

'Just for the record though, you were wrong.' he said softly.

'About what?'

'Just now, when you said it was unforgiveable. You were wrong. I _have_ forgiven you. I forgive you for everything. I just wish I could forgive myself as easily.'

'You should. You should forgive yourself, I've forgiven you.'

'Back at you.'

Lorelai almost smiled, 'Ok, well-'

'Yeah. Yeah, I'll let you go. I hope it all goes well tomorrow. And listen, don't think about the stupid town reenactment party while you're there, just enjoy it.'

'I will. Goodnight, Luke.'

Lorelai pressed to end the call and sat on the sofa staring at her hands. So that was that. They were finally done. After all the back and forth of the last couple of days, after the song and the frenzied alleyway sex, they finally had some closure. The only thing keeping her from sinking into black despair was a glimmer of hope that, despite everything, they might still be able to salvage their friendship.

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Luke threw the phone to the other end of the couch and stood up. This couldn't be it. It had to be worth one last try - he had to get her back.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Right so apologies for the length of time between chapters here - I've been staying at my Mum's for the holidays and she has no internet which was weirdly liberating but meant that this took longer than I intended. This takes us right up to the end of the story but I think I'll probably write an epilogue to round the whole thing off. Not sure yet...will see how it turns out before deciding.**

 **Also, this chapter is set between scenes that we see in episode 7.22 - I tried to make the timeline clear based on what else is going on - hopefully it's not too confusing!**

 **Hope you enjoy and please do leave feedback - it rocks my world!**

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For the first time in his life, Luke wished he had someone to talk to about his relationship problems. Aware that he was usually monosyllabic to a fault, he was surprised to suddenly find himself wishing he had a best buddy that he went drinking with on the regular so he would have someone to ask for help. He thought about talking to Liz but her unfailing optimism and belief in the supernatural tended to get in the way of practical advice. Back in the day he'd sometimes talked to his Dad about this sort of stuff but he'd really only been comfortable talking in fishing metaphors and somehow he didn't think _**'**_ _Always be careful of where you cast your line_ _ **'**_ was going to help him with this one.

What he needed was his best friend. He pictured her standing next to him at Uncle Louie's funeral, her dragging him round apartments when Jess had first come to town, her coming to pick him up from the police station when he'd tried to kick his imprint into the sock man's car. At the time, falling in love with his best friend had seemed like all his dreams come true but in retrospect he realised there was one serious pit fall. Talk about putting all your bait on one hook.

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Emptying the last box of all the stuff she'd lugged back from Yale, Rory looked up at her Mom sitting on the bed.

'Ok, so I know you are butt-deep into this rollercoaster planning and I definitely want to contribute but I hardly slept at all last night what with getting my resumés ready and missing Logan so before I do anything else I need some coffee.'

'Oh ok' Lorelai made to move off the bed, 'I'll go make us some.'

'No, not your coffee.' Rory raised a hand to stop her, 'no offence,' she added quickly, 'Just, I have been craving a cup of Luke's coffee with a side of Danish and curly fries since all that fancy food at Grandma and Grandpa's party.'

Lorelai settled back on the bed with her laptop. 'Ok well you run on over there, I'll carry on with this and when you get back I'll take you through the plan while I eat the cheeseburger you will bring me.'

'You're not coming?'

'Oh, no.' She waved her hand airily trying to seem nonchalant. 'I'm just going to hang out here. Still trying to keep a low profile after that not-at-all-embarrassing karaoke night which, thanks to Miss Patty and Babette, will probably _still_ be being talked about at my funeral.'

Rory looked sceptical, 'But I thought you just said you were over Luke? That you two were just friends? Friends like, _can I get some coffee friends_? Friends like that?'

'We are!'

'So then, why are you avoiding him?'

'I'm not avoiding him.' she protested without quite meeting her daughter's eyes. 'I'm just avoiding…you know…diners. I mean, did you know that 100% of burger-related deaths happen in diners? Yeah, they lure you in with their small-town charm and then bam, before you know it you're being sold into slavery to uphold the family name-'

'Mom.' Rory cut across the babble. 'What is going on? Is there something you're not telling me? Has something else happened with you and Luke?'

Lorelai felt her face go red, 'No! No. Absolutely nothing else has happened with Luke. Nothing. Nothing at all.'

'Right. So you guys had sex.'

'Yeah.'

'Mom! When did this happen?'

Lorelai buried her face in her hands, muffling her voice, 'It was right after t _he song'_.

'Mom, come on.' Rory reached forward and pulled her hands off her face, 'Talk to me.'

Lorelai let out a heavy sigh before continuing, 'Well after I rushed off stage he came out to find me and I was feeling really emotional and he was there and I realised how much I'd missed him and…well…I'm sure you can fill in the blanks, I don't want to scar you for life.'

Rory nodded, 'Ok, skating past the part where I'm pretty sure this must have happened in that disgusting alleyway behind KC's which that racoon has been living in for the past 2 years, why didn't you tell me? And what does this mean for you guys?'

'I don't know, hon. To be honest I think I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed. I mean, what kind of a role model does this make me? But hey, one of these days I have got to learn that tequila is not my friend.' She shook her head, 'And, well, I thought at first it might have meant something but too much has happened between us. We tried to talk about it and we just ended up yelling at each other and dragging everything up again. I mean it, we're better as friends.'

'Sad.' Rory's puppy dog eyes expressed all the emotion that her short statement lacked.

Lorelai shrugged, 'Yeah. You know, we had a good talk the other night. After the yelling I mean. We cleared the air, we've both forgiven each other and, I don't know, I've finally got some closure on the whole thing. Like I said, I think we're done.'

'Ok, well you sit tight here and I will be back with coffee, burgers, fries and danishes.'

'Thanks, kid'

Rory grabbed her purse and headed for the front door. As she opened it she heard her mother's voice shout, 'And pie!'

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Trying to kill time while Rory enjoyed her last few hours with Lane, Lorelai moved through from the kitchen to the living room, carrying the last basket of clean clothes and dropping them by the ironing board. Her eyes fell on Rory's plane ticket lying on the coffee table and she quickly looked away. Taking a shaky breath she released it slowly. 'Hold it together. Hold it together. 35 hours then you can fall apart.'

She was rescued by a knock at the door.

'Luke' she said in surprise. 'Hey'

'Hi, sorry I didn't mean to bug you but I just wanted to drop some stuff off while Rory's still at Lane's.' he raised his hands slightly to show two brown carrier bags.

She blinked in surprise, 'Luke, I know you love the kid but was it really necessary to stick her with a homing device?'

'What?'

She laughed, 'How do you know Rory's at Lane's?'

'Oh.' he reddened slightly, 'Er, Zach told me.'

Giving a small shake of her head at that non-explanation she smiled and stood aside, 'Well come on in.'

Luke followed her into the kitchen, 'Like I said, I don't want to get in the way of your evening but I was having a think about stuff Rory might find useful when she's on the road and I bought some stuff for the boat trip which I'm not going to need now so I just chucked it all in a bag. She can go through it and take whatever she wants.'

'Luke, that's so thoughtful, thanks.' she took the bag he was holding out to her.

'It's really nothing much, there's this thing that April said would charge her cell phone on the go which I don't really know anything about but sounded like it could come in handy, there's an eye mask, some ear plugs and a book light which I got for April for when it got dark out on the boat and well, Rory likes to read.'

'I think I heard that somewhere.' She smiled up at him, 'Really, Luke, thank you.' Her eyes fell to the bag in his other hand which seemed to remind him he was holding it.

'Oh right, yeah. Well I assumed that you guys would be up late this evening talking your way through every movie you've already seen ten thousand times and I know you probably already have all the junk food you could want but I was making brownies earlier so I did an extra chocolatey bunch for you and then I thought I'd chuck in some apple pie because I know it's her favourite and I made you some milkshakes.' He set the bag on the kitchen table. 'There's also some fries in there in case all the sugar gets too much and you want something salty.' He looked up at her. She was smiling at him and he couldn't help but smile slightly back at her. 'If you guys end up in hospital tonight I'm denying all knowledge of this.'

She nodded, 'Sounds fair.'

There was silence for a bit as they looked at each other. 'So, how are you holding up?' he asked finally.

She let out a deep breath 'Oh you know, I'm still standing so as far as I'm concerned I'm way exceeding expectations.'

He nodded, 'I still can't believe she's going. It's all happened so fast.'

Her eyes instantly filled with tears and she shook her head, 'Please, Luke. I can't think about it yet. I'm not _letting_ myself think about it. It's just- it's too much, it's too soon. There's too much to do and I don't want her to worry about me. It's just-.'

'It's too soon.' he finished for her.

She nodded and another silence fell as she quietly wiped away the tears she hadn't allowed to fall. 'Lorelai, I wish I could be there for you after she goes. I hate to think of you having to do all of this on your own.'

She let out a shaky laugh and her eyes glistened with tears again. 'Luke, please.'

'I know, I know, I'm sorry. I know you said the other night that we wouldn't work but I have to tell you, Lorelai, I don't agree. I think we can get past everything we've put each other through and I still think we should give it another go.'

She opened her mouth to reply but he cut across her, 'No. I don't want to talk about this now. You've got other things on your mind and I have…things I need to sort out this evening. We're not going to talk about it until after Rory's gone so you don't have to worry about me or any big romantic gestures coming your way until after then. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not giving up.'

She nodded, meeting his gaze steadily. 'Ok.'

He raised his eyebrows, 'Ok?'

'Yeah.'

He nodded and rubbed his hands down his thighs nervously, 'Right, well I need to go and er…yeah. I need to go. See you tomorrow.'

'Luke?' He turned back to her, 'Thanks again for everything - the extra chocolatey brownies, the book light, just, thank you.'

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As Lorelai slowly made her way through the crowd, she barely registered that Taylor and Babette were even speaking to her. Her mind was full of what Sookie had just told her. ' _This was all Luke. He made me promise not to tell you but I don't care.'_ He had said last night that they would hold off until after Rory had gone but she suddenly felt that they shouldn't waste another second denying the inevitable.

Spotting him through the window of the diner she made her way across the road, meeting him just as he closed the door behind him.

She momentarily cast around for something better to say but ended up landing on the only thing that really fit, 'Thank you.'

He shrugged self-deprecatingly, 'It's no big deal.'

She almost laughed in disbelief, she almost shook him, she almost gave him a five minute rant about how big of a deal it actually was but in the end all she did was shake her head and say simply, 'Luke.'

He knew what she meant. He always knew what she meant. He shrugged again, 'I just like to see you happy.'

And then they were moving together, the bag of charcoal he was carrying hit the floor as his arms wrapped around her and their lips met. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt her hands on his arms, pulling him to her.

When they broke apart for air she leaned her forehead against his, identical grins splitting their faces.

'I thought you said no big romantic gestures until _after_ Rory left?'

He rolled his eyes and grumbled, 'Well, you weren't supposed to know this was from me. I suppose Sookie told you?'

Still smiling that irresistible smile she nodded, 'Are you annoyed?'

'I'm always annoyed. But no, right at this moment I am not annoyed. In fact, I could not be more pleased that she told you.'

'Huh, a pleased Luke Danes. I wonder what that looks like?'

'A bit like this.' he murmured against her lips before kissing her deeply once more.

She pulled back and looked nervously over her shoulder. He seemed to be thinking along the same track, 'Here, come with me for a sec.' He took her hand and led her into the diner, although why they ever bothered trying to find privacy in this crazy town was beyond him.

Reaching behind the counter he retrieved the jewellery box, 'I got this the day after that night outside KC's. I was going to give it to you but then you said…and we…well, here it is.'

She took the box he was holding and opened it, 'Luke, it's beautiful. I love it. Thank you.' she leant in to give him a sweet kiss. 'Could you put it on for me?'

Turning she lifted her hair out of the way so that he could remove the necklace she was already wearing and replace it with his.

'Wow, so a necklace _and_ a tent made out of raincoats. These illegal romantic gestures are coming in thick and fast, I can hardly keep up. What's next?' she teased, 'Are you about to serenade me on the bleachers in front of the soccer team? Am I going to wake up tomorrow to you standing in a field of daffodils? Oh wait, is that a boom box behind your back?'

Chuckling softly he turned her round and stopped her with a kiss. 'God am I glad I can do that again.'

'What, shut me up?'

'Exactly.'

He hugged her tightly to him thinking that if there was any way he could permanently attach her to him he might start looking into it.

'So, this is it right?' she asked hesitantly.

'This is it.'

'Back together.'

'Dear God, yes.'

She smiled against his flannel before pulling back and looking at him. 'Luke, we still need to talk, we need to get it all out there.'

He nodded, 'I know we do but tonight it's about you and Rory. Tomorrow, I'm going to come over and make you dinner and we'll have an early night - don't say _dirty_ \- then after that, we'll talk.'

Relief that she wouldn't be alone the first night after Rory left flooded her and she smiled, 'A man with a plan.'

He smiled back at her, 'I love you Lorelai. Whatever comes our way, just remember I love you.'

For the hundredth time that day she felt close to tears, 'I love you too.'

He kissed her. 'We'll be better at saying it this time around.'

She nodded, wrapping her arms around him again, 'We'll be better at everything.'


	5. Epilogue

**A/N So a mere 7 months after I said there might be an epilogue, here we are! No idea if anyone is in any way interested but I had an urge to write it so here it is. Hope you enjoy :) Note the M rating.**

 **Oh, and in case anyone is interested, in my mind I have completely disregarded AYITL. As much as it was great to see them back on our screens, and there were some good moments, I just didn't buy that Lorelai and Luke would still have such communication issues. In my mind, they learned from their mistakes, settled down and had the kids they both acknowledged they wanted.**

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Luke stood smiling at the closet. He'd be certified soon, he was sure of it. A grown-ass man, staring lovingly at a half empty closet. Reaching his hand forward he stroked the skinny-tiny molding with one finger. He remembered his fervour in getting it all fixed up and ready to go. He'd paid those guys way over double what he should have done for their last week's work so the place could be ready and it could be just him and Lorelai. And then what? After all that time so desperate to be part of her life he'd dragged his feet. He'd never properly moved in and she'd never really pulled him up on it. But now, after all this time, it was finally happening.

The days and weeks after their kiss at Rory's going away party still filled him with exhaustion to think about. They had argued and kissed, he'd shouted and she'd cried, they'd made love until he could barely keep his eyes open and then they'd talked and talked and talked. He reckoned if you counted up all the words he'd said in the past few months it would work out to be more than he'd spoken in his whole life combined. He'd talked about Christopher, she'd talked about April, they'd both explained how hurt they were and they'd apologised over and over again. Whenever it had felt like the discussion was escalating away from them, one of them would hastily throw the conversation on 'pause' and they would fly at each other, tearing each other's clothes off, desperate for closeness. When they had finally exhausted themselves, they would lie tangled up together and talk some more.

And then one day they realised that there was nothing left to talk about. Everything they'd ever wanted to ask had been asked, every ugly thought they'd had had been laid bare and all that was left was the pure relief and love that they felt at just being together. They'd been through the tunnel of darkness and come out on the other side, brighter, stronger and happier than ever before. All the good things from their relationship were still there but with none of the bad. None of her stubbornness and none of his reticence. They were partners now, in every single thing.

'Luuuuuke,' the sound of Lorelai's voice coming up the stairs pulled him back to the present. He knew that tone and it usually meant something needed fixing. Tearing his eyes away from the closet he hadn't got round to filling yet, he headed downstairs to find her sitting on the kitchen floor surrounded by half unpacked boxes, pots, pans and various kitchen utensils.

'Well I can see great progress is being made here,' he said with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow.

She huffed and pouted at him, 'It's not my fault you have so much stuff. I thought I was moving in with Luke not the cast of Top Chef.' Looking around her again she spread her hands, 'Babe, where are we going to put all of this?'

He walked over and opened one of the cupboards above the oven to reveal shelves and shelves full of Pop Tarts. He looked down at her, his eyebrows still raised.

She gasped in horror, rising to stand in front of him, 'Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?'

'Lorelai, these things have like a million year expiration date on them, this is enough Pop Tarts to get you through about three lifetimes.'

'But I had a coupon! And the man in the store said he thought I was being very smart, investing in my future.'

'Oh jeez, you should not be allowed out without a big hazard warning round your neck. Come on, we'll find somewhere else to store these.'

'Like our bedroom closet?'

'How about the trash?'

'Or we could just leave them here and eat all our meals at the diner?'

He levelled his steely gaze at her, 'Do you want me to call Rory and tell her you've been clipping coupons again?'

She caved, turning to pull boxes out of the cupboard. 'Fine. I guess we can find some room for them in the garage.'

He nodded and kissed the side of her head, 'Thank you.'

'I hope you know you're the only person I would give up Pop Tart space for.' she grumbled at him.

He laughed slightly and drew her into a hug, 'And I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.'

00000000000000000000000000000000

It was well and truly evening by the time Luke had finished unpacking. It wasn't even that he owned a lot of stuff but he hadn't wanted to leave a single possession at his old flat above the diner. They were doing it properly this time and he had no desire to retain any form of man cave to escape to. This time, whatever came at them, they were going to face their problems together.

Coming downstairs he smiled as he walked into the now completely unpacked kitchen to find Lorelai humming to herself as she pulled two beers out of the fridge. He leaned against the door, just taking it all in for a moment. As she turned to put one of the beers on the table she caught sight of him and jumped, 'God! Make a noise next time. I thought I was about to be murdered by The Silent Lumberjack!'

Chuckling to himself he walked towards her, taking the beer she was holding out to him. Taking a grateful sip he then placed it on the counter behind her and pulled her to him, kissing her lightly.

'Welcome home,' she said softly, kissing him back, putting her own beer down and winding her arms around his neck.

Luke felt his pulse quicken as her mouth moved to his neck, her fingers moving to his buttons.

'Lorelai' he mumbled, unsure if he was trying to stop her or encourage her.

'I think we're going to have to come up with some house rules as to how many clothes you're allowed to wear,' she grinned up at him, moving to slip his shirt off his shoulders and revealing the grey t-shirt he wore underneath.

'Only if they go both ways.' he murmured, taking hold of her shirt in turn and pulling it over her head.

'Do you remember when we used to talk about moving in?' she continued as her hands moved to his jeans. He felt himself harden in anticipation as she pulled the zipper down. 'About how we could walk around naked? All the places we could have sex?'

Her hands were now pushing his jeans down and he was having trouble following the thread of the conversation.

'As I recall the kitchen table was something we discussed. Something about our Bull Durham audition.' he mumbled distractedly.

She stripped his t-shirt off him and kissed him deeply, 'Sookie would be pleased' she murmured back.

His brain finally allowed himself to catch up and he started removing her clothes with practiced ease. Both finally naked, he turned her, lying her back across the kitchen table, his mouth moving from her lips to her breasts before carrying on down to her clit. She gave a loud moan of pleasure as his tongue flicked over her, only to release an even louder moan when he slid his finger inside her. Her hands tangled in his hair as he drove her up. Her breath was coming in short pants and she moaned every time his finger stroked a particularly sensitive spot. He felt her begin to tense around him and his heart and cock swelled with pride at getting her off so quickly. Within another short minute she let out a loud cry and shuddered uncontrollably with her release.

'Wow' she gasped out as he pressed kisses to her inner thighs, allowing her time to recover.

Sated but not nearly finished with him yet, she pulled him up to her level and gave him a searing kiss, their tongues tangling. Pushing him back, she scooted herself forwards until her feet touched the floor and she stood up. Turning, she slowly bent forwards over the table, her hands gripping the edges as she looked back over her shoulder at him. She shot him a challenging smile and said, 'Didn't we talk about this as well?'

He felt all the blood in his body rush south at the sight of her and wasted no time in stepping forwards and pushing slowly inside her. Her head fell forwards with a groan and she rested her forehead on the table. He thrust into her, his pace building to a rapid crescendo as he desperately fought to hold himself together. Reaching forward, he pushed his index finger into her mouth and she almost subconsciously swirled her tongue around it before he put it down to her and started to circle her clit with his wet finger. She gave a loud cry as her legs started to shake. 'Oh god, Luke,' she groaned as she broke apart for the second time.

She whimpered as he pulled out of her and he helped her to her feet, turning her so she was facing him again. Giving her a deep kiss, he stepped back until the backs of his knees met a kitchen chair and he sank down onto it, pulling her down to straddle him and guiding himself to her. She sank down onto him and their lips met, swallowing each other's moans. 'This was definitely on the list.' she gasped as she circled her hips. Gripping his shoulders with her fingers she threw her head back and he trailed kisses down her throat.

As her head fell forward again to rest on his shoulder, he whispered into her ear, 'I've just remembered another one. Hold on to me.' He tightened his arms around her and moved to stand up. She in turn tightened her legs around his waist and, still inside her, he walked them out into the hallway, pressing her up against the wall and thrusting deep. 'You have a great memory' she moaned as he swept his tongue across her erect nipple.

After a minute, Luke's strength started to flag and he could feel his legs start to shake. Stumbling into the sitting room he laid her back on the couch. 'This one I think we're very familiar with.' she said, smiling sexily up at him. Luke groaned, thrusting hard into her. His arms were taut as he held himself up above her. 'Oh God, Lorelai-' he said, his voice taut and hoarse.

'Yes' she moaned back, 'Oh yes, yes yes,' she repeated as he pounded into her. She could feel herself coiling tightly once more as he repeatedly dragged himself across her clit. 'Oh God, Luke, I'm- oh- again,' she cried as she came for the third time and this time he couldn't hold back. As her muscles spasmed around him he surged into her, burying his face in her neck as he finally came to release.

'We should have moved in together a long time ago.' she said through a smile, satisfied exhaustion seeping into every bone in her body.

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Much, much later they lay tangled up in their bed sheets, moonlight streaming through the curtains. Lorelai was spooned into Luke, her back to his front. She could hear his breathing begin to deepen.

'Luke?' she said softly.

'Mmmm?'

'Are you asleep?'

'Would it matter if I were?'

'Do you still want to get a plant?'

He opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling in the half light as he processed her question. Luckily he'd had years to become fluent in Lorelai. Reaching down he laced his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand, 'Kids would be good.' he answered and she smiled, moving to nestle into his side and pulling the sheets over them both.


End file.
